vegan

I love Granola!

I think I have been on a huge granola kick here lately. I feel like I need to have it on hand at all times! I am not quite sure why, though. My only thing is which one to make? I am always playing around with my rolled oats and nuts. this week dried cranberries got involved and they made an amazing cranberry almond granola!

Today’s weather, although is cloudy, it is warm! I can smell and feel that spring is here by my stuffy nose and watery eyes, however, an allergy pill can fix that. I love spring. I lived in Florida the 18 years of my life and any weather that has the sun shining I am a huge fan of. With the sunshine coming out and warmer weather means that I want to spend the day outside and granola is the best thing to have on hand as a simple snack! …

Spring is Here!

Certainly, Spring is coming in with full force sunshine and warmer weather and I couldn’t be happier! With this glorious weather we have been having in the foothills of North Carolina I have been craving fresh foods! In fact, this avocado pico de gallo is all fresh and so ready to have outdoor parties with you this spring and summer!

My family is all about outdoor living. We used to live in Florida where it was all outdoors all year. Well, the summer so dang hot we couldn’t stand it without some form of air conditioning running. Now that we have moved to North Carolina we are outside most of the day in the spring and summer. We turn the A/C on at night to sleep cool, but for the most part it stays off. What is the point of having it on if you are just going to be chilling in the pool with an ice cold beverage of choice? Seriously, this sounds like a dream!…

The Winter Weather is sure coming on strong here in North Carolina and if you are anything like me you were more than prepared about a month ago… A Florida Christmas was pleasurable but I would definitely prefer a white Christmas anytime!

However, I will take what I can get!

This past week has been busy working on getting a schedule for the New Year because I am starting this year organized and totally in charge of everything! it May not end that way, but I am certainly going to try! Got any secrets on how you stay organized, healthy and on top of things I would love to hear them!

OH!!!! And DON’T FORGET! Sign up for Not Too Shabby Gabby’s Email List to ensure you never miss a post or healthy tip again! It is a weekly list so you will not get overwhelmed with emails!

Today, I am continuing my theme of keeping healthy and active with this chocolate peanut butter granola! Any chocolate peanut butter lovers out there will fall madly in love with this delectable granola and it is completely vegan friendly too! In fact, it is so super healthy you won’t be able to even taste how healthy it is! Those are the kinds of snacks and dishes I like! I just had to share with you all about how amazing this granola is that I couldn’t keep it to myself or well I probably could…. but I will share! You all deserve it!

Mix together your Oats, almonds, cocoa powder, sugar and flax seed. Melt your coconut oil and mix your powdered peanut butter. Add in your oat mixture stir until everything is evenly coated. Spread out onto a prepared cookie sheet. I lay out a piece of Aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick spray and then spread it out. Put into preheated oven and baked for about 30-35 minutes stirring every 10 to 12 minutes. After it is done Baking Add your Chocolate chips in immediately and stir until all the chocolate chips have melted or started to melt. This will create even bigger chunks in the granola. Place in fridge for about 15 minutes to cool. Break apart and put into a zip-loc baggy or sealed container for up to 1 month.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola

2016-01-12 11:13:36

Serves 12

A delicious granola that has peanut butter chocolate lovers screaming for more! Vegan and of course gluten free to help with all types of diets!

Mix together your Oats, almonds, cocoa powder, sugar and flax seed. Melt your coconut oil and mix your powdered peanut butter. Add in your oat mixture stir until everything is evenly coated. Spread out onto a prepared cookie sheet. I lay out a piece of Aluminum foil and spray it with nonstick spray and then spread it out. Put into preheated oven and baked for about 30-35 minutes stirring every 10 to 12 minutes. After it is done Baking Add your Chocolate chips in immediately and stir until all the chocolate chips have melted or started to melt. This will create even bigger chunks in the granola. Place in fridge for about 15 minutes to cool. Break apart and put into a zip-loc baggy or sealed container for up to 1 month.

By Not Too Shabby Gabby

beta

calories

402

fat

28g

protein

8g

carbs

36g

more

Not Too Shabby Gabby http://nottooshabbygabby.com/

In my apartment the chocolate peanut butter granola does not last long. We have it for breakfast every morning until it is gone and we also will take it for snacks to work! It keeps us feeling full until the next meal and pairs perfects with some vanilla yogurt! It is also great to take on hikes in the spring and summer when the weather is feeling mighty fine! I love making a couple batches at a time so that it will stay around longer… maybe a week! The almonds are a great addition but any nut will do. It is great to add some peanuts to give it a more peanut buttery taste but the almonds give it more of a crunch and different taste. Doing half and half is great too.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram (@notshabbygabby), Twitter (@Not2ShabbyGabby), Pinterest (@Not2ShabbyGabby) and Like me on Facebook to stay up to date on all recipes and posts! Don’t forget to sign up for e-mails too!

This week has been jam packed full of planning and creativity that is for sure! I have been planning a Valentine’s tasting for Mattie’s and it has been getting off to a great start!

I have recently started a E-Mail list! I know about time right? You will receive a few health benefits, a recap of posts from the previous week and also maybe a sneak peek at feature posts as well! Make sure you sign up!

The one thing I have decided to do with 2016 is to make it the year of change! Good change well I hope for it to be! I have been doing a lot of planning and reading in the last week and let’s hope it pays off!

Today’s recipe is quite the delicious treat! I have always been a fan of chai tea. I always use to get it at any cafe on my campus at school, Starbucks or any local cafe my friends and I got around to. It was always so yummy but within the last month or so I realized how much sugar is in them! 42 grams of sugar in a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte! I am also almost certain they are not using unrefined sugar and my mouth flew open! I realized real quick that I needed to know how to make this magical drink for myself! …

I feel as though this year is already going by so fast! It is already the 6th of January!

We have been fast at work planning, cooking, baking everything!

I am proud to say that I have started my resolution of getting more active and exercising more. I know that is probably 90% of everyone else but it is what a lot of us need!

So far this year I have not had any refined sugar (until this morning with powdered sugar but a little bit is okay!). I have been largely gluten free with some vegan thrown in too! I must say that I have had a constant getting up in the morning at about 7:30 and no naps because I don’t feel tired during the day and I have so much more energy! I am pretty impressed with myself with everything that I have accomplished!

Ever since the new year has started I have had a hankerin’ for some doughnuts. I am not talking about fried dough with a hole in the middle, but a luscious cake doughnut baked in the oven with icing and sprinkles on top! I had an extremely hard time making doughnuts, and I have no clue why! I have made doughnuts so many times before, but for some reason for 24 hours a few days ago I couldn’t!!! I seriously made 2 batches were the cocoa went everywhere!!!! SO I gave up on the chocolate doughnuts! I was so frustrated I went to bed. The next morning it was like the vanilla cake doughnut was magic and worked! I had to make another batch to make sure that it worked right! It was full proof!…

Can you believe that we are already mid way through this week! One more day closer to Christmas!

Or for some: one week closer to Christmas… (However I like exclamation!)

Either way I am hoping to bring you cheer with this beautiful and easy recipe today!

This past weekend we went up to get out Christmas Tree! John’s grandparents own a tree farm up in the mountains of NC so we ,meaning him, my mom and I, climbed into the SUV and took the wet and dreary ride up the mountain to get our first real Christmas tree! We spent some time with his family up there and had a great time showing my mom around the little town of Newland, NC. A very small yet quaint little town that is probably 90% Christmas trees, no joke. It actually makes me quite excited that we have gotten our tree and will decorate it this weekend! I am so ready for the season. …

How is everyone doing today? I can tell you one thing, I am enjoying the cooler weather as much as I can with the windows open until this weekend when it warms back up for a couple of days.

This past weekend I had so much fun for my birthday! We went to Charlotte, NC for the Greek Festival! It was rather cool in the city and that was the main reason we wanted to go! It was so good with yummy food, watching dancers, seeing all the priest garbs in the church and having fun with an old friend from college! It was so nice to catch up and relax outside where it feels amazing! Oh how I wish it would stay mild and in the high 60’s all winter! I am so ready to pull my favorite sweaters out of hiding and put all my maroon on!

As you can see I have a little bit of an obsession with pumpkin, but it only happens once a year, so in my mind it’s okay. When I was a child my mom loved to make apple anything so I think I have steered away from apples (but I still love apples don’t worry!). It wasn’t until later in life that my mom started making a lot more pumpkin baked goods like pumpkin cookies, which will be up tomorrow on Mattie’s Pantry! …

I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend or an adventure filled one, which ever you prefer! Saturdays are typically my Fridays because when owning a store you probably should be open on Saturday because it is usually the biggest day of the week!

Anyways, I have a friend who comes from England by way of Florida (he lives in Florida now but is originally from England), and while he was up visit me here in the beautiful foothills of the North Carolina Mountains, my mom made this amazing dessert! She made this dessert for the first time well over 4 years ago but it is still iconic in our family today. The best thing that I can think of about this beautiful dessert is that it can easily be used with any fruit you want; apples, blackberries, blueberries or even a triple berry delight!

However, it didn’t dawn on me until just recently that I can actually play with this recipe! I know, I know what am I thinking changing mom’s recipe? Well how am I going to learn? So I played and I realized I could potentially make it to be gluten free, vegan, paleo or well all of the above! So I did it! I knew I had to share this recipe! …

We are almost to the weekend! This past weekend was a hard one as we had to say goodbye to a loved family member but he is without pain anymore and it was a blessing to know that. Now it is back to the world that is my kitchen and baking up a storm and making yummy creations!

In the last few days with being in the mountains quite a bit it has made me change into fall colors and a fall mood. With that comes the tastes of fall! Like apples, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and and everything pumpkin! I love apple festivals and pumpkin patches! I am from Florida originally and we do not have seasons down there. it is cold for about a week then it is sunny and 90 degrees the rest of the year. So, moving to the foothills of North Carolina was a huge change!…

How has everyone’s week been? I can tell you that the last couple of weeks have been quite crazy over here with traveling. Last week I was in Pinehurst, NC and this weekend I will be in Lebanon, PA (My roots) for a food show for our family business. In a few years the store will be mine to take over since I am my Mom’s only baby so I definitely have a lot to learn here. I am so excited though to see everything and experience it as well. I have never been to Lancaster and the surrounding areas so this will be fun!

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Gabby

I am a lover of all thing cute, cuddly, sweet and colorful. I prefer to be in the kitchen but love to take adventures! I am a social media director who is all about having fun! My life is one adventure after another and you see!